Tag: Manchester rejuvenation

I am not sure if this should really be called ‘the sound of the suburbs part two’ or try and think of something clever about the smartest parts of London not looking like the smartest places to invest in property nowadays?
According to the leading property services group LSL the house prices in areas such as Kensington and Chelsea have fallen by up to 22% since autumn 2014.

A report from LSL identifies that the areas of Kensington and Chelsea alone had seen prices plummet by 16% since a peak in September 2014.

Prices in Westminster were seen to fall by around 22% between a peak in November and the end of May 2015 which has been blamed in part on the December introduction of changes to stamp duty which penalises expensive properties.

Changes to stamp duty have meant that the average priced property in Chelsea or Kensington will see an increase of around £120K in stamp duty whilst buyers of properties worth less than £937K will now pay less stamp duty than they used to. This has resulted in the market slowing down and more importantly (according to the RICS) housing stock levels falling.

As we reported recently this has once again lead to increases in the suburbs both in London and other areas of England and Wales as the popularity of moving out of the city centres and taking advantage of improving transportation networks and more importantly affordable properties kicks in.

The RICS now predict that the shortages in housing stock are likely to cause house prices to rise in England and Wales by a whopping 25% over the next 5 years.

It is reported that prices in thirteen of London’s suburbs have now seen prices hit new highs, away from the South East, the strongest growth was expected in north-west England, home of The House Crowd as a result of the government’s northern powerhouse initiative perhaps this will grow again if/when the HS2 rail links are completed?

Finally house prices are on the increase!
According to reports taken from recently published Land Registry data it has been identified that the average price of homes in both England and Wales has almost reached the similar figures to those of the 2007 market when prices were at their peak.

The Land Registry data generally showed a 5.1% annual increase in house prices to take the average value of properties to £179,817. It should be noted that this is less than £2,000 from the £181,014 peak which was recorded pre economic slump back in November 2007.

Semi-detached houses were seen to be the main catalyst in the house price growth. Prices for Semi-detached properties were reported to have been generally rising by 5.6% over the course of the year. The market for flats/apartments saw an increase of 5.4%. This increase saw the flat/apartment market growing such and becoming the second largest in the housing sector.

Regionally there were no major surprises when it came to house prices where the London region recorded the biggest increases (up by 10.1% over the previous 12 months) whereas Wales by contrast saw an increase of just 0.3% although cities such as Cardiff and Swansea have reported 11.2% increases.

One area that has seen a high % growth in house prices a little closer to House Crowd HQ is the South East Manchester district of Trafford. Possibly not the best news for first time buyers in the area but there has been an increase of 9.2%. The proximity of Trafford to retail hubs such as the Trafford Centre, the introduction of the Metrolink tram system linking the commuter belt with the Manchester city centre and the regeneration and relocation to Salford’s Media City by the BBC will no doubt have influenced these increases.

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In August of this year, we blogged about â€˜Town Team pilotsâ€™ being rolled-out in the wake of Mary Portas’ High Street Review and the value of such entrepreneurial approaches to town centre rejuvenation. You can read the blog post here.

Following on from this, it has recently been announced that Manchester Council is to inject more than Â£300,000 to breathe new life into Greater Manchesterâ€™s high streets â€“ specifically, Levenshulme and Cheetham Hill precincts, after they both missed out on cash from the Government’s Portas Pilot programme.

Both of the aforementioned areas did receive Â£10,000 consolation funding from the Government after bids for greater funding failed earlier this year. However, Manchester Councilâ€™s decision to provide far greater funding to promote these areas, drive shopper footfall and help bring fledgling local businesses on to the high street is significant and likely to achieve long-term results.

A council spokesperson has already talked-up the benefits of tackling aesthetically displeasing unfilled premises in the funded areas, however, here at The House Crowd, we believe the true value of the newly announced funding will be to attract further private development, transport investment and leisure facilities â€“ all of which are central to increasing property value and key ingredients for building self-sustaining inner-city communities.

The House Crowd is a brand new concept in property investment which allows people to invest small amounts via crowdfunding (for more information on the process, visit http://thehousecrowd.com/thehousecrowd/how-it-works/). We are committed to breathing life into empty, rundown properties whilst giving investors great returns on their investments (for more information about us, visit http://thehousecrowd.com/thehousecrowd/about/our-manifesto/). If youâ€™ve read enough and want to invest now, visit http://thehousecrowd.com/thehousecrowd/invest-in-property/).

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